Hunters and other sportsmen, such as skeet and trap shooters, often transport weapons with them from home to a site for shooting. Hunters also carry weapons from a hunting lodge or cabin to a hunting area or stand. In getting to the hunting area, hunters may have to traverse very rough terrain while transporting their weapons. Rifles and shotguns are consequently frequently carried in horizontal racks that rely upon gravity to support and secure the weapons. Other weapons may even be carried loose on a floorboard of a pickup or a car or even in the trunk of a car or the bed of a pickup.
Carrying a weapon around in this manner presents a number of problems. The rifle or shotgun is a precision instrument with many fine tolerance parts that can be damaged by mechanical jarring while being transported in a vehicle. A high-power rifle is frequently fitted with a scope, another fine precision instrument that is also subject to damage from being jostled in a vehicle. The jolting of the weapon can also upset the sighting of the scope, which often cannot be easily and accurately corrected in the field.
For safety reasons, a weapon should always be assumed to be loaded. Unfortunately, weapons are often transported in a loaded condition, even when carried around loose in a vehicle. This can result in inadvertent premature discharge of the weapon with the resultant injury, property damage, or even loss of life.
A number of gun cabinets have heretofore been proposed for the safe storage of guns in a stationary location. For example, Atkinson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,950, suggests a locking apparatus for a wooden cabinet. Unfortunately, cabinets such as the one shown by Atkinson do not provide the support necessary for a gun or rifle during transport and is not adaptable for this use. Further, Atkinson is concerned with the security of the weapon, not protection of the weapon from mechanical jarring which may be encountered when delivering the weapon from place to place.
Thus, there remains a need for a portable carrying apparatus suitable for carrying guns from one stationary location to another. Such an apparatus should securely grasp the weapons against vibration and mechanical jarring while providing a easy release of the weapon from the carrying apparatus. Preferably, the carrying apparatus also provides a means of securing the apparatus to a base securely mounted within a vehicle and just as easily to a stationary mount in a home or hunting lodge. The carrying apparatus should also be simple in construction to minimize cost. Finally, the carrying apparatus should provide a structure for the safe transport of weapons contained therein and be adaptable for manual carrying when not secured within a vehicle or residence.